To make it easier to fit ceiling boards or furnish under roof pitches, use is commonly made of manual devices known as “plate-hoists”, these including, as shown in FIG. 1, a stand (1) consisting of three foldaway feet (1a,1b,1c) the ends of which are provided to advantage with casters (2), a central telescopic pole (3) made up of two or more elements, which is extended by means of a manual winch (4) activated by a flywheel (5) and at least one cable (6) activated by said winch (4), and a plate carrier (7) mounted at the upper end of the upper element of the central pole (3), said plate carrier (7) being able to advantage to be slanted relative to the horizontal.
Said plate carrier (6) commonly consists of a horizontal central bar (8) and two transverse arms (9) extending crosswise to the ends of said central bar (8) so that the plate carrier (7) is generally H-shaped. Each transverse arm (9) comprises at one of the free ends thereof a hook (10) on which the edge of a plate is able to be supported. Said hooks (10) are to advantage free rotatably mounted so that they can be removed when the plate is fitted against the ceiling for example.
Furthermore, the plate carrier (7) comprises two T-shaped longitudinal arms (11), each longitudinal arm (11) comprising a median branch (12) slidably mounted at one of the ends of the central bar (8) and a tubular part (13) extending crosswise to the median branch (12), said tubular part (13) being to advantage provided with rubber pads (14) or the like in order to prevent the plate from slipping when it is positioned on the plate carrier (7).
This type of “plate hoist” device, and the “plate hoists” described in European patent applications EP 0777021 and EP 0856621, can be used to lift ceiling boards to the required height and to keep said boards at a height in order to facilitate the fitting thereof. The swivel mounting of the plate carrier at the upper end of the pole facilitates the initial placing of each ceiling board on the device and the installation of each hoisted plate or board, either in a horizontal position, to form an ordinary ceiling, or in a slanted position, for a so-called “under roof pitch” fitting.
The plate carriers of these “plate hoist” devices are not suitable for fitting vertical plates, to form partitions or walls.
Furthermore, prior art “plate hoist” devices can generally be dismantled in order to reduce their space requirement when they are not in use. The pole may thus be separated from the stand which can generally be folded away and the plate carrier may be separated from the upper end of the pole.
However, prior art plate carriers have the drawback of being bulky even after they are dismantled.